Russian army invades Ukraine, occupies Crimean peninsula

The Federation Council of the Russian Federation’s Federal Assembly supported on March 1 an appeal by the Russian President Vladimir Putin to dispatch Russian soldiers to Crimean territory. He was responding to an appeal submitted by Sergei Aksyonov, the self-declared head of the Crimean Council of Ministers, to offer support in ensuring peace and calm in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Both chambers of the Russian Duma supported the appeal. The Council of Ministers of Crimea voted on March 1 to hold the referendum to determine Crimean independence on March 30 instead of May 25, as designated earlier this week.

 

Putin based his appeal on a television news report that surfaced on March 1 on the Russian network Vesti that depicts Russian soldiers alleged to have been killed during a gunfight near the Council of Ministers in Simferopol, reported the Ukrayinska Pravda news site on March 2. Assailants in black forms, black masks and white ribbons on their arms allegedly shot into a crowd and the local trade union building. Evidence in the news report points to the attack being staged by pro-Russian forces, the news site reported. The supposed Ukrainian nationalists were using a bus with Crimean license plate and guns only used in the Russian army. Putin used the alleged incident to justify dispatching Russian troops to other Ukrainian regions. “In case of any future spread of violence to eastern Ukraine and Crimea, Russia retains the right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population of those areas,” Putin told U.S. President Barack Obama in a March 2 telephone conversation.

 

The first massive pro-Russian, secessionist rallies in Ukraine’s independence were held in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Odesa this weekend. In Kharkiv, the demonstrators beat and injured 97 activists of the EuroMaidan movement they evicted from a state building. A significant amount of the thousands of participants had watches set to Moscow time and arrived in buses with Russian license plates, various news reports said. Numerous local pro-Russian leaders emerged who didn’t have standing or popularity among the local population previously. For the first time, Russian flags were raised at state buildings in these cities.

 

About 6,000 Russian airborne and ground troops invaded the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and took control of the peninsula, reported Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on March 2. Ukraine’s mission to the United Nations reported the next day 16,000 Russian troops in Crimea. The soliders spent the weekend provoking conflict throughout Crimea, he said. They approached military bases and demanded a surrender of weapons and a pledge of loyalty to the new Crimean government. Among those to capitulate was Denis Berezovsky, the newly appointed head of the Ukrainian Navy, who declared his loyalty to Russian forces on March 2. He was dismissed the same day and charged with treason. “There was no basis, is no basis and will be no basis for military aggression on Ukraine’s territory and the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which is and will be a part of Ukraine,” Yatsenyuk told a March 2 press briefing. “A series of provocations have been committed during the last several days that, probably in the minds of Russian soldiers, had as their goal legalizing the presence of Russian armed contingents on the autonomy’s territory,” he said.

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Kyiv today to meet with senior representatives of Ukraine’s new government, leaders of parliament, and members of civil society, reported the U.S. State Department website. He will reaffirm the United States’ strong support for Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future without outside interference or provocation, the website said. On March 1, Kerry released a statement condemning the “invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory.” In doing so, the Russian Federation violated its obligations under the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, its 1997 military basing agreement with Ukraine, and the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the statement said. “This action is a threat to the peace and security of Ukraine, and the wider region,” Kerry said.

 

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in a March 3 telephone conversation to remove the Russian soldiers from Crimea, support the immediate dispatch of international observers in Ukraine and to begin political dialogue with the Ukrainian government, the White House said. In addition, the U.S. is preparing sanctions, among them financial, against the Russian government, said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.  The U.S. Congress is preparing USD 1 billion in loans to aid the Ukrainian government, reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on March 3, citing U.S. Senator Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez. The bill also proposes technical support for elections, fighting corruption and strengthening the civil sector, he said. U.S. President Barack Obama asked Congress to offer such support on March 3.

 

The members of the G8 announced on March 3 they are ceasing preparations to participate in the June summit in Sochi, Russia, citing the Russian government’s violations of its values and principles with its invasion of Ukraine. “We call upon Russia to resolve any issues related to security and human rights by means of direct talks under international observation or mediation under the guise of the United Nations or the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. We are ready to support such steps,” the statement said. The G8 stressed the need to preserve Ukrainian sovereignty as well. “We are obligated to give Ukraine support in its efforts to renew the country’s unity, stability, political and economic health.”

 

EU High Representative for Security Policy and Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton condemned Russia’s use of armed forces in Ukraine in a March 1 statement. She led an extraordinary session of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on March 3, after which she said the EU will give Russia until March 6 to show clear signs of goodwill, including a willingness to open talks and a withdrawal of Russian troops to their barracks in Crimea. Ashton will travel to Kyiv on March 5 and meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on March 11 to discuss the situation. “The ambition is to see the situation improve,” Ashton said. “If it doesn’t, then the course is set.”

 

Alexander Paraschiy: The military invasion will have very adverse effects for Ukrainian politics and economics in the next several months. Although we would have earlier doubted the Russian government’s intentions of invading other Russian-leaning regions of Ukraine, we can’t rule out that possibility now. At the same time, we believe that the increasing pressure on Russia from Western countries will contain the Russian invasion to Crimea only, and later lead to Russian troops leaving Ukrainian territory.